To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

DIY Floor Mat for water containment?

ManCave

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2008
Messages
213
Hi All,

We have a heated garage and end up with inches of standing water in our garage every winter. I usually end up using the wet floor vac to **** up the water and then a fan to dry the floor. I'm getting tired of that.

I don't like the commercial floor mats that you can buy because they are all poorly designed. Most only have a depth that might hold an inch of water if that. I want to make my own and use either foam pipe insulation or a funnoodle for the outer edge of the mat:

HTB1gUknJVXXXXbuXVXXq6xXFXXXo.jpg


Essentially what I would do is get a large mat that would hold water and then roll the outer edge of the mat, with the foam contained inside the outer roll to form a perimeter "lip", and then I'd glue the edges in place.

The idea being you could drive over the foam edge onto the mat. Super simple to make.

However, I am looking for ideas on what to use for the mat itself. Those cheap blue tarps won't work---they will pass water through them. I was thinking of maybe using that EDM rubber roofing material. But there must also be some other membranes out there that would work so I'm looking for suggestions. Even a really heavy vinyl tarp might work.

I'm not interested in suggestions for floor drains, or putting a coating on the floor itself or gluing tubing to the floor, etc. (all things I've seen suggested elsewhere) None of those ideas are practical in my case.

I've googled and also searched this forum and I haven't come across any great ideas for a source or suggestion of mat material. I knew you guys would have some great suggestions so I thought I would ask!!! Any ideas n what I could use for a mat?

Thank you!
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

StreetGLi

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 29, 2017
Messages
138
Hi All,

We have a heated garage and end up with inches of standing water in our garage every winter. I usually end up using the wet floor vac to **** up the water and then a fan to dry the floor. I'm getting tired of that.

I don't like the commercial floor mats that you can buy because they are all poorly designed. Most only have a depth that might hold an inch of water if that. I want to make my own and use either foam pipe insulation or a funnoodle for the outer edge of the mat:

HTB1gUknJVXXXXbuXVXXq6xXFXXXo.jpg


Essentially what I would do is get a large mat that would hold water and then roll the outer edge of the mat, with the foam contained inside the outer roll to form a perimeter "lip", and then I'd glue the edges in place.

The idea being you could drive over the foam edge onto the mat. Super simple to make.

However, I am looking for ideas on what to use for the mat itself. Those cheap blue tarps won't work---they will pass water through them. I was thinking of maybe using that EDM rubber roofing material. But there must also be some other membranes out there that would work so I'm looking for suggestions. Even a really heavy vinyl tarp might work.

I'm not interested in suggestions for floor drains, or putting a coating on the floor itself or gluing tubing to the floor, etc. (all things I've seen suggested elsewhere) None of those ideas are practical in my case.

I've googled and also searched this forum and I haven't come across any great ideas for a source or suggestion of mat material. I knew you guys would have some great suggestions so I thought I would ask!!! Any ideas n what I could use for a mat?

Thank you!
I think you'll have a difficult time keeping the "mat" in place trying to drive over those foam rollers. You'll likely just push them forward. If it does work you will either have a pool in your garage with a ton of salty water messing up your tools and whatnot or you will have to shop vac your garage anyways. But as you stated you don't care about opinions you want answers! So...

There is a dude on here that built a membrane under his race deck(he installed a dry well drain with a trap but the the idea of the collection mat sounds the same.) His thread is Woody's Works Garage.

It's quite the build thread but he is very open to answering questions so if you didn't feel like going through it to find what your looking for you could just ask him and he will likely answer. I think his handle is denwood, but just search for his garage thread.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Barnabas

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Messages
362
Location
Raleigh, NC
Check into the mobile car wash businesses. Some towns require them to recycle the water, so there is a whole industry that supports a water containment system that looks like a kiddie wading pool with soft sides you can drive over.

They make a small size (4'x5' x 4" tall) for when you just need to wash the engine compartment. It might be what you are looking for. Here is an example:
http://store.detailking.com/car-wash-mats-water-containment
 

Voi

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2010
Messages
5,151
Location
Western South Dakota
There is a dude on here that built a membrane under his race deck(he installed a dry well drain with a trap but the the idea of the collection mat sounds the same.) His thread is Woody's Works Garage.

It's quite the build thread but he is very open to answering questions so if you didn't feel like going through it to find what your looking for you could just ask him and he will likely answer. I think his handle is denwood, but just search for his garage thread.

He did a separate thread on it as well. Not sure if it's as complete as his build thread.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=309814
 
OP
M

ManCave

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2008
Messages
213
OP
M

ManCave

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2008
Messages
213
Wow! That was a cool build of his!

Our State code doesn't (at least last time I checked) allow drains in the garage floor and I'd have to daylight it into the ground. Plus my floor is all epoxy coated already and then it also doesn't have any slope for a drain.

The mat idea should work well enough, I think.

He did a separate thread on it as well. Not sure if it's as complete as his build thread.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=309814
 

Kpaige

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 12, 2015
Messages
751
Location
Big Lake Minnesota
If you have a commercial flat roof company around call and see if you can have some used epdm rubber roof. They pull stuff off all the time and ussually keep it and use it for patching worn roofs. I would suggest reinforced epdm it has fiber cords running through it.
Good thing is you can use black epdm glue ( contact cement) and glue it together on the edgers so you have an area to slip in the pool noodles. Then when summer comes remove the noodles and roll it up. I would make it so the end sticks out of the garage for wuick squeegee cleaning.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom